Maintaining long time-series of data is an essential part of the Lab work, which allows understanding of the wider scale functioning of the marine environment, and establishing the reliability of trends. The Microplankton Lab maintains the "Sevastopol Bay Black Sea" (SBBS) – an oceanographic time-series and marine biodiversity reference site in Sevastopol Bay and adjacent coastal waters. The SBBS provides an ideal platform for collaborative projects.

The following map shows the position of the principal stations of the SBBS.

In situ measurements, including temperature, salinity and nutrients, are undertaken bi-monthly at the coastal, open-water station 1 and the bay stations 2 and 3, which have some of the longest time-series in the Black Sea for zooplankton, phytoplankton and bacterioplankton. Seawater samples collected at all the stations from board of the motorboat "Vyazemsky" (see photos below) are examined microscopically for phytoplankton and microzooplankton species composition, and analysed via analytical flow cytometry for smaller phytoplankton and bacteria. Such a regular and comparable time-series has allowed analysis of seasonality, composition and abundance over a long period of time – an ideal tool for establishing the presence of trends and detecting changes.

The Lab scientists travel hundreds of nautical miles aboard research vessels every year to gather and analyze data, conduct shipboard experiments, and study marine ecosystem dynamics in the field. IBSS has at service the R/V Professor Vodyanitsky (1976), specially designed for performing hydro biological investigations in the ocean. This intensively exploited comfortable ocean-going ship was the best in Ukraine both in the equipment and its sailing safety record.

The expeditions of the Lab scientists to the Black Sea are highlighted here: